


The Deal

by Braincoins



Series: The Trilogy [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ask and ye shall receive, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 11:40:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8711227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Braincoins/pseuds/Braincoins
Summary: So, Keith has been dumped in Lance's room to hold up his end of the deal. Now what? Final part of the creatively named "The" trilogy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> -Thanks to everyone who was super interested in "[The Look](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8594116)" and "[The Idea](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8616331)" in the first place. I can't promise this is up to par; I wrote it while strung-out on caffeine and high on the MLS playoffs (or maybe the other way around).
> 
> -Minimal editing, as usual  
> ======================

            “What the quiznak was _THAT_ about?!” Lance demanded.

            Keith was red-faced, a little sweaty, wide-eyed, and silent. “I… uh…”

            Lance folded his arms across his chest. “Well? I mean, I think I’m owed an explanation for why Shiro carried you in here and dumped you on my bed like a sack of potatoes.”

            “…I… lost a bet. Sort of.” Keith swiveled his legs off the bed to sit and stare at the floor.

            “What sort of bet and what does it have to do with me?”

            Keith cleared his throat. “Not really a ‘bet’, so much as a… a deal.” Lance didn’t say anything and Keith risked a look up at him. He sort of zoned out for a bit before blushing and dipping his head again.

            “Shiro just… apparently… confessed to Allura,” Keith began.

            Lance snorted. “FINALLY. That’s something that needed to happen forever ago. Still doesn’t explain what that was just now.”

            Keith shifted uneasily. “Shiro and I made a deal that if he confessed to Allura, then I’d…”

            “You’d… what?”

            Keith stood up. “Nevermind. You don’t want to hear this.” He tried to get to the door.

            Lance blocked his path. “Oh no, nonononono, I _do_ want to hear this.” _You don’t get to tell me what I do and do not want to hear._

            Keith growled a deprecation in Shiro’s general direction, trying to look anywhere but at Lance. “You don’t want to hear this,” he repeated with certainty. “We’re …rivals.”

            “Yeah, so? What does that have to do with Shiro confessing to…?” _Wait._ Because his mind was filling in that blank with possible options, and the most obvious one was, well, like for like. _Love confession for love confession? No way._

            “It’s stupid. You don’t have to worry about it,” he said quickly.

            “Keith?” Lance came over, craning his neck this way and tilting his head that to try to catch Keith’s gaze, but he kept looking away. “Keith, stop it. Look at me.”

            “It’s STUPID,” he reiterated.

            “What is?”

            “This.”

            _OH MY GOD, KEITH, JUST SAY IT._ “What?”

            “You know what.”

            “I… have an idea. It’s possible I’m wrong. That happens. Occasionally.”

            “Dammit, Lance.” He squeezed his eyes closed.

            “You made a deal with Shiro, you said. That if he confessed to Allura, you would… do something that had something to do with me.” Keith just nodded. “Soooo, that something is…?”

            “It’s just a stupid crush,” Keith said quietly.

            Lance blinked a little, feeling his face heat up. _That’s probably the closest he’s going to come to actually saying it._ He didn’t get a chance to respond though; apparently some sort of internal dam had broken in Keith (though he still wouldn’t look at him).

            “It’ll go away. You don’t have to worry about it, because I know that, eventually, I’ll stop feeling like an idiot every time you smile at me and I’ll stop trying to come up with dumb excuses to spend time with you…”

            “Is that why we spar so much? I just thought you wanted to show off.”

            Keith just kept talking as if Lance hadn’t interrupted him. “…and it’ll go away. I just don’t want you to feel awkward or to… to push me away ‘cause we need to be able to form Voltron still, and…”

            “You’re worried about us forming Voltron? Because of _this_?” He took hold of Keith’s shoulders, but he still couldn’t get him to look him in the eye. “Keith, look: we _are_ rivals, sure. And that’s been fun. But we’re also a team. We’re paladins of Voltron, and nothing’s going to change that.

            “I trust you with my life. Sometimes I think I need my head examined for that, but I do. Hell, I trust you with Hunk’s life! And Pidge’s and Shiro’s!” He smiled, even if Keith couldn’t see it. “Don’t use Voltron as an excuse, because even when you piss me off – which is often – we can still do it.

            “Let’s just face facts here: you’re a really good pilot, Keith. And I am, of course, pure awesome.” He grinned a little, but Keith still wasn’t looking at him, so he dropped it. “But together? Man, Keith, together, we are _incredible_. We can do anything.”

            “Yeah, but that’s all Voltron. I mean, we’re piloting the most powerful weapon in the universe, and…”

            Lance sighed in annoyance. “I wasn’t talking about the team anymore. I meant just us. You and me. Lance and Keith. We’re the incredible ones, when we work together.”

            There was silence. Lance still had hold of Keith’s shoulders, and he could practically _feel_ the tension and embarrassment wafting off of his friend. So, he did the only thing he knew to do: he pulled Keith in for a hug.

            Keith made a sort of strangled sound of surprise, but Lance just held onto him until he got it through his stupid mullet and hugged him back. “You can tell me anything, Keith. I promise I won’t make fun of you or tell you you’re stupid. Not for opening up to me. Y’know, unless you want to tell me something obviously untrue, like that my mom’s hugs aren’t the best ever.”

            “How would I even know?” _Finally, It speaks once more._

            “Well, I get my hugging skill from my mom,” Lance said.

            “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

            “Shut up, it totally is.”

            Keith shut up. _Great. Good job there, Lance,_ he berated himself. But then Keith said, quietly, “Then your mom must be a pretty good hugger.”

            Lance beamed. “See? Was that so hard?” He pulled away a little to smile at Keith, who had his head ducked but otherwise had stopped looking away. What he could see of his face was bright red. “So, you want to, like, kiss me and hold hands and do all that sort of thing?”

            Keith nodded.

            “Well… I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it.” Keith’s head shot up quickly, and Lance grinned, trying not to feel the butterflies in his own stomach.

            “You’ve thought about…me?” Keith was almost as red as his lion. “That way?”

            Lance shrugged. “Yeah. A few times. What it would be like.”

            “But you’re always hitting on Allura, and there was that Nyma chick, and…”

            “Well, yeah. They’re both smoking hot! But just because I like girls doesn’t mean I _can’t_ like guys, too. I’m just… not used to thinking like this about guys, is all. It doesn’t bother me!” he added quickly. “It’s just new to me, is all. And I didn’t even think you’d be interested in…”

            “I am,” Keith said quickly. Now that Keith was looking at him, it seemed like he couldn’t look away. Neither could Lance, and he couldn’t stop smiling either.

            “If you’re willing to go slow, then I’m…”

            And Keith kissed him. Now that he thought about it, he supposed his wondering about what it would be like to kiss a guy was kind of stupid. It wasn’t really different from kissing a girl. But kissing _Keith_ specifically was a whole ‘nother story. He came on strong, intense, and eased down into something almost… shy? It was strange. But Lance’s smile returned when Keith pulled away.

            “That was nice,” he said. “It turns out you are actually a good kisser, Mullet.” He tugged affectionately on a lock of Keith’s hair. “Not as good as I am, though.”

            “WHAT?! Seriously?!”

            Lance shut him up with another kiss.

 

 

            Shiro walked back into the dining room, straightening out his rumpled clothes. “Sorry about that.”

            “I would like an explanation,” Allura said, rising from her chair.

            “Uh, yeah.” He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. His righteous fury was ebbing, especially now that he was once again facing Allura. He explained the deal to her.

            She blinked at him and then started laughing. “So, when you left here saying you had something you had to do…?”

            “I physically hauled Keith into Lance’s room, dumped him on the bed, and left.” He shrugged. “I’m probably going to regret that in the morning, but… too late now. It’s what the brat deserves for sabotaging my attempts all day.”

            She smiled and sidled up to him. “So, you meant it then? That you think I’m amazing?”

            He swallowed hard, looking into her eyes. “Absolutely.”

            “And you’re falling in love with me?”

            He nodded, then made himself say it. “Yes.”

            She looped her arms around his neck. He took that as a good sign and slid his arms around her waist. “Good,” she told him. “Because I feel the same way about you.”

            He exhaled in relief just before she kissed him. There was no more anger now, only joy and love and a deep sense of gratitude for that annoying little brat he’d taken under his wing back at the Garrison. _I hope you’re at least half as happy as I am right now, Keith… and half as grateful._

 


End file.
